


Heart Racing, Stomach Turning

by obviouslyelementary



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Eventual Romance, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Sweet, date request, short and sweet, silva la forge - Freeform, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: Heart racing, stomach turning... that's how Silva LaForge described falling in love.
Relationships: Data/Geordi La Forge
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Heart Racing, Stomach Turning

Being in love was truly something else.

Geordi remembered when his mother used to tell him how he would feel when he found 'the one'. He found it disgusting and very unlikely to ever feel like she said, with his heart racing and his stomach turning and all those things she said happened when you were in love.

Honestly if he was supposed to feel sick around a person that was supposed to make him happy, he didn't want to fall in love, ever.

Those were his childish thoughts, at the time. When he grew up a bit more he understood the appeal for romantic relationships, and although he was not very good at them, he liked being able to hold someone close, kiss, having those feelings of want and longing while he was around someone he liked. He had many flings during his years before Starfleet, going from planet to planet, station to station with his parents. None of them could last, but they were all fun regardless.

When he entered the academy, he got a few partners here and there, some more stable, others just as volatile, and in the end, he was assigned to ship after ship and always managed to get one or two things going on before he was relocated.

At the Enterprise, the ship he hoped would never have to leave, and one he had been years in, he had also been able to cultivate several small companionships now and then, but they simply never seemed to last. He wasn’t very upset, since he had work to do and he was devoted to be the best at his field, but for the first years at the galaxy vessel, he wished he could find someone to spend his time with, someone steady and long-lasting.

He was a bit older, a bit wiser, and surely more aware of the passage of time. And he was sure he didn't want to be alone forever. That was a fact.

However out of all the years Geordi had dated people, from girls and boys from starships and colonies, to all the aliens he tried to make work, never had he found himself in front of such a conundrum.

His god damned best friend, lieutenant commander, second officer of the Enterprise, mister Data.

The thing about Data was... obvious. He was an android. He was a one of a kind species, with his own way of thinking, acting and feeling, different from everything Geordi (and everyone else for that matter) had ever encountered. He was intelligent, brilliant, mechanical, naïve, and so much more, things that made him so peculiar and yet so appealing. And Geordi, as much as part of him wanted to badly, never considered Data more than a friend, unable to predict how the android would react to someone having feelings for him.

As he never tired of saying, he was an android, and he did not have feelings. He could not love. And therefore, finding someone that could love him was difficult.

At least that was what Data thought. Geordi wasn't so sure, he was in fact confidant that Data did feel, even if it was different from how humans felt, but he wouldn't contradict his friend. Data knew himself better than anyone else.

But for the long years they had served together, Data had tried dating some people, with no avail. No one seemed to quite enjoy his company as much as they were required. And after so many disasters, Geordi just assumed Data was tired of trying, and had decided to forget all of it. It made him a bit relieved, since seeing Data with someone else made him really jealous and upset. But still, Geordi felt somewhat selfish, and he wanted his best friend to succeed in finding love one day.

To his surprise, one day, Data called him for a talk in his quarters, and not expecting nor knowing what the subject was about, Geordi went right away, smiling as he entered the room, seeing Data sitting on his couch with Spot on his lap, surrounded by his last paintings, and some that were covered up with cloths.

"Hey D" Geordi said, sitting down next to him, petting Spot and chuckling when the cat meowed at him. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Geordi, this is an extremely delicate and personal subject, so I would appreciate if you refrained from interrupting me after I began" Data said, and it was rare to see him so serious. With a nervous nod, Geordi agreed, watching his friend. "Do you have any questions or comments to make before I proceed?"

"I... no I guess not" Geordi said, watching as Data stood up, offering Spot to Geordi. He took the cat and placed her on his lap, petting her as she curled up against him. Data walked forward and sat down on the chair, facing Geordi, making the engineer fix himself up on the couch and hum to himself.

"Then I shall begin" Data said, and tilted his head. "After that incident with the plasma ray that activated my dreaming programming, I have constantly turned myself off for periods during my free hours to allow myself to dream. Usually I dream about things that happened during my day, with strange variations that I cannot quite explain. However in the last few weeks, I have been having different dreams, but with the same theme. You.

"You see at first I believed that those dreams were being caused by my usual routine and how most of my time is spent with you, as you are my best friend. However I spend the same amount, if not more time at the bridge with the bridge crew, and not once I have dreamt of them. Therefore I concluded that those dreams were not caused by the amount of time we spend together, but something more. Something else.

"Following the captain's advice after my first dream, I allowed myself to become inspired by those dreams, and began painting images of them and images that followed them, things that I believed could be somehow connected to the dreams. And after so many weeks painting about those dreams, I was finally able to sit down and try to understand what they mean, for me.

"I concluded" Data said, making a short pause and looking right into Geordi's eyes "that I am in fact experiencing something akin to what humans call love. I believe that in my own peculiar way, I am in love with you, Geordi."

"... oh..."

"I understand that it is quite a lot of information to process, and even to accept. I am not expecting you to simply understand everything right now. But I believe it would be the best to allow you to know" he said, and Geordi blinked slowly under his visor and then put Spot down, biting his lip for a second and then taking a deep breath.

"Okay... okay. So you think you are in love with... me?" he asked, and Data nodded.

"Precisely."

"Alright... um... is this a question of some kind or..."

"It is just the statement of a fact" Data said, and Geordi leaned back against the couch. "I am not asking you anything."

"Okay... well... then... Data... I really don't know what to say."

"You do not have to say anything" he assured, and Geordi shook his head.

"No I think I do. I think I do" he said and sighed, rubbing his face and then looking at Data. "First of all... thank you for telling me. I know you don't understand emotions but like it takes a lot of courage to tell someone you like them. Second thank you for sharing something so personal about you to me. I will not take that for granted. And third... um... wanna go on a date?"

Data's eyes widened a bit, his head tilted to the side, and Geordi could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment.

"I did not anticipate that question" he said, honestly, and then gave Geordi a short nod. "I would very much enjoy going on a date with you Geordi."

"Alright! I'll... make everything up. Maybe in two days? At nineteen hundred hours?"

"Sounds adequate" Data agreed, and Geordi smiled, standing up.

"Alright. Then I'll... see you there" he said, chuckling and tapping Data's shoulder before he walked out of the android's room very quickly.

He could feel it, his heart racing, his stomach turning, the butterflies, the sweat. Yeah, just like his mom described it.

Oh, he liked it alright. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is dumb but kinda cute


End file.
